FENCE RULES – DICKENSON (COUNTY), VIRGINIA
OVERVIEW
Residential fences are permitted on private property within Dickenson County, subject to local regulations. This page applies to properties in the unincorporated areas of Dickenson County; incorporated towns, cities, or other municipalities may regulate fences under their own ordinances.
Dickenson County does not publish a consolidated residential fence ordinance in the referenced published materials. Local fence-related review is structured through the Virginia Uniform Statewide Building Code building-permit baseline, the Dickenson County USBC and VSFPC Ordinance, Dickenson County Building Department permit materials, the Erosion and Sediment Control Permit Application, the Floodplain Activity Permit Application, and the Dickenson County Subdivision Ordinance.
This page focuses on typical single-family residential fencing. If the jurisdiction’s adopted materials do not state a specific limit or requirement, this page notes that the code does not specify one.
Compiled From the Dickenson County Building Department materials, Residential Other Building Permit Application, Residential Remodeling Permit Application, Building Permit Approval Form, Floodplain Activity Permit Application, Erosion and Sediment Control Permit Application, Dickenson County Subdivision Ordinance, Dickenson County USBC and VSFPC Ordinance, the Virginia Uniform Statewide Building Code, Virginia 811 utility-notice materials, and Code of Virginia Title 55.1, Chapter 28, as of July 2026.
GOVERNANCE
Dickenson County regulates residential construction, erosion and sediment control, floodplain activity, and subdivision plats through the Board of Supervisors, the Dickenson County Building Department, the Building Official, and the Administrator identified in the Subdivision Ordinance.
The Dickenson County USBC and VSFPC Ordinance adopts the 2021 Virginia Uniform Statewide Building Code and the Virginia Statewide Fire Prevention Code. It creates the Building Department, provides for a Building Official appointed by the Board of Supervisors, and assigns that official responsibility for enforcing the Virginia Uniform Statewide Building Code.
The county’s building-permit applications provide local review context for residential work that is otherwise subject to building-permit review. Those applications ask for a tax map number, district or town, description of work, sketch of work, erosion and sediment information, and floodplain activity information, but they do not name standard residential fences as a permit category.
The Dickenson County Subdivision Ordinance governs subdivision plat approval, building setback lines on subdivision plats, rights-of-way, easements, drainage, flood control, utilities, and lot layout. It does not function as a consolidated residential fence code.
PERMIT AND APPROVAL REQUIREMENTS
• Building Permit Baseline: Under the Virginia Uniform Statewide Building Code baseline, application for a building permit and related inspections are not required for fences of any height, unless the fence is required for pedestrian safety during construction or is used as the barrier for a swimming pool. The Dickenson County USBC and VSFPC Ordinance adopts the 2021 Virginia Uniform Statewide Building Code and states that a building permit application must be submitted to the Building Official unless exempted under USBC Section 108.2. Dickenson County does not publish a stricter local residential fence permit threshold, zoning-permit requirement, zoning-certification requirement, development-approval requirement, or all-fences permit rule in the referenced published materials.
• Local Building Permit Materials: Dickenson County publishes residential permit applications and a Building Permit Approval Form, but those forms do not explicitly state that standard residential fences require a local building permit. The forms are relevant to residential work that is otherwise subject to county building-permit review.
• Erosion And Sediment Control: The Dickenson County USBC and VSFPC Ordinance requires an erosion and sediment permit if more than 10,000 square feet will be disturbed. The county Erosion and Sediment Control Permit Application asks whether the site will have over 10,000 square feet of soil disturbed, including fill, and asks for the total area of disturbance. The referenced published materials do not state that standard residential fences require an erosion and sediment permit unless the project meets the local disturbance trigger.
• Floodplain Activity: Dickenson County publishes a Floodplain Activity Permit Application for work involving the 1% annual chance (100-year) floodplain or floodway, flood zones A, AE, or X, activity within the floodway, and fill. This is a site-condition review layer; the referenced published materials do not state that standard residential fences outside those conditions require a floodplain activity permit.
• Subdivision / Plat Context: The Dickenson County Subdivision Ordinance governs subdivision plat approval and requires plats to show building setback lines, easements, rights-of-way, drainage, utility, flood, and floodway information where applicable. It does not state that an ordinary residential fence on an existing lot requires subdivision-plat approval.
• Pool Barrier: A fence used as a swimming-pool barrier is not treated as an ordinary yard fence under the Virginia building-permit exemption. The Dickenson County USBC and VSFPC Ordinance includes swimming-pool permit fees, and the statewide building-code exemption for fences does not include pool-barrier fences.
• Zoning Compliance: Building permit requirements are separate from zoning, setback, subdivision, floodplain, historic, Chesapeake Bay Preservation Area, Resource Protection Area, wetland, shoreline, right-of-way, easement, drainage, and plat requirements. Confirm any applicable zoning conditions, setbacks, and plat requirements with the Dickenson County Building Department before construction.
FENCE PLACEMENT RULES
• Property Lines: The ordinance does not state a setback requirement for standard residential fences from property lines; however, fences must be located entirely on the owner’s property and must not encroach into rights-of-way or easements.
• Subdivision Building Lines: The Dickenson County Subdivision Ordinance requires subdivision plats to show required building setback lines. It states building setback lines of 35 feet from the right-of-way for minor and collector streets, 40 feet on arterial streets, and 15-foot side and rear yards measured to the building line. These are building-line and subdivision-plat standards; the ordinance does not state those dimensions as fence setbacks.
• Rights-Of-Way, Easements, Drainage, And Utilities: The Dickenson County Subdivision Ordinance requires preliminary and final subdivision plats to identify streets, easements, rights-of-way, drainage, watercourses, drainage easements, utility easements, and public-improvement areas. The Administrator may require utility easements not exceeding 12 feet along rear or side lot lines, with greater widths where necessary for planned utilities.
• Floodplain And Land-Disturbance Site Conditions: County permit materials ask whether a site is within the 1% annual chance (100-year) floodplain or floodway and whether the site will have more than 10,000 square feet of soil disturbed, including fill. Fence-related grading, fill, or large site disturbance is a separate site-review category from ordinary fence placement.
• Utility Safety: Virginia law requires notice to the notification center / Virginia 811 before excavation or demolition where the Underground Utility Damage Prevention Act applies. For fence projects that involve excavation, including digging, drilling, augering, or other movement of earth, the excavator must submit a locate request and must review the positive-response information before work begins unless an exemption applies. A Virginia locate request is generally valid for 15 working days, and re-marking may be required before that period ends or when markings become illegible. Virginia law includes an important exemption for hand digging performed by an owner or occupant of a property. This statewide utility-notice framework is separate from local fence permitting, zoning, development approval, easement limits, right-of-way approvals, floodplain review, Chesapeake Bay Preservation Area review, Resource Protection Area review, stormwater review, wetland or shoreline approvals, HOA restrictions, and other applicable requirements.
FENCE HEIGHT AND VISIBILITY RULES
• Maximum Height: The code does not specify a maximum height for standard residential fences.
• Building-Permit Exemption Is Not A Height Limit: The Virginia Uniform Statewide Building Code baseline uses fences of any height as building-permit exemption language. That language is a building-permit application exemption, not a local maximum fence height and not a local zoning approval.
• Visibility: The code does not specify a fence-specific sight-triangle dimension, clear-vision height limit, driveway-visibility rule, or corner-lot fence-height rule for standard residential fences in the referenced published materials.
• Corner Lots: The Dickenson County Subdivision Ordinance states that on corner lots, building setback lines apply to all streets on which the lots front. That provision is stated as a building-line rule for subdivision lots, not as a fence-height or fence-visibility standard.
MATERIAL AND CONSTRUCTION LIMITS
• Standard Residential Materials: The code does not specify permitted or prohibited materials for standard residential fences.
• Finished Side / Orientation: The code does not specify a finished-side, opacity, screening, or orientation requirement for standard residential fences.
• Barbed Wire, Razor Wire, Electric Fence, And Chain Link: The referenced published materials do not publish a standard residential material rule for barbed wire, razor wire, electric fencing, chain-link fencing, or similar fence materials.
• Pool-Barrier Construction: A fence used as a swimming-pool barrier is reviewed separately from an ordinary residential yard fence under the Virginia building-code framework. The referenced published materials do not convert pool-barrier rules into standard residential yard-fence material rules.
PRIVATE RESTRICTIONS
HOA covenants, subdivision restrictions, deed restrictions, private easements, architectural-review covenants, agricultural agreements, private boundary agreements, recorded agreements, conservation easements, and other private restrictions operate independently from Dickenson County fence and permit materials. Private restrictions may be more restrictive than county rules.
The Dickenson County Subdivision Ordinance recognizes easements, rights-of-way, public-improvement areas, utility easements, and recorded plats as property-specific constraints. Those recorded property conditions operate separately from the county’s general permit materials.
REVIEW AND ENFORCEMENT CONTEXT
Fence issues are typically reviewed during permit or approval review when required, and through complaint-based code enforcement. Examples include:
• Building-Code Exemption: Ordinary residential fences fall within the Virginia building-permit exemption for fences of any height, unless the fence is required for construction pedestrian safety or is used as a swimming-pool barrier.
• Erosion And Sediment Control: Review may involve the county’s erosion and sediment permit trigger when a project disturbs more than 10,000 square feet, including fill.
• Floodplain Activity: Review may involve the Floodplain Activity Permit Application when work involves the 1% annual chance (100-year) floodplain or floodway, floodway activity, flood zones A, AE, or X, or fill.
• Subdivision / Plat Conditions: Review may involve subdivision-plat building lines, rights-of-way, easements, drainage easements, utility easements, public-improvement areas, floodway restrictions, and recorded plat conditions where those items affect the property.
• Pool Barriers: Review may involve swimming-pool permit and barrier context when a fence serves as the required enclosure for a pool, spa, or hot tub.
• Property Lines And Easements: Because the code does not specify a fence setback from property lines, property-line placement is mainly constrained by ownership boundaries, rights-of-way, easements, plats, utilities, drainage areas, and private restrictions.
• Utility Safety: Fence excavation may require Virginia 811 notice and positive-response review before digging, unless an exemption applies.
USING THIS INFORMATION
This page provides general orientation on how residential fence rules are structured and applied within Dickenson County, based on the referenced published materials as of July 2026.
In addition to local fence rules, certain Virginia laws apply statewide. See Statewide fence laws in Virginia.
It is not legal advice and does not replace official ordinances, permits, zoning approvals, zoning certifications, development approvals, surveys, or professional guidance. Rules and interpretations may change, and application may vary based on zoning district, site conditions, easements, rights-of-way, floodplain status, stormwater requirements, Chesapeake Bay Preservation Area status, Resource Protection Area status, wetland or shoreline status, historic district status, design-review status, rural or agricultural context, livestock or division-fence context, pool-barrier use, utility safety requirements, and private restrictions such as HOA covenants, deed restrictions, private agreements, or conservation easements. Before purchasing materials or beginning construction, confirm current requirements and any site-specific limitations with the Dickenson County Building Department and any applicable private agreements. If this page conflicts with official ordinances, published guidance, or direction from Dickenson County staff, the official sources control. For legal advice or legal interpretation, consult a licensed attorney.